SACRAMENTO (AP) – No one here ever expected a same-sex marriage bill to cruise through the Capitol. But gay rights advocates calculated that if any state government was going to willingly sanction same-sex unions, it would be in California.

After all, lawmakers in the Democrat-controlled Legislature had passed every major piece of gay rights legislation submitted since the late 1990s, including a landmark 2003 law giving domestic partners nearly the same rights as married couples.

But that string of successes was broken June 2 when the marriage bill died in the Assembly as lawmakers declined to do what no legislative chamber had before – remove the last legal barrier separating gay and lesbian couples from their heterosexual counterparts.

In the wake of the 37-36 vote, four votes shy of passing in the 80-member house, supporters had to reconcile their initial optimism with an outcome all the more frustrating because it came so close.

“These [gay rights] bills have always been a squeaker, always been the bare minimum number of votes,” said Steve Hansen, a lobbyist for Equality California. “What happened is that the people who needed this most were sold out because of political considerations by people who knew what the right thing to do was – Democrats who were scared by the right wing.”

Without a single Republican breaking ranks to back the bill, 10 Democrats who voted against it or opted out provided the margin of defeat. Male and female, black, Hispanic and white, they came from different parts of the state.

Several described the decision as gut-wrenching, pitting religious beliefs or duty to conservative constituents against arguments that they were abandoning a downtrodden minority.

“It’s hard when you look at this issue, because you have your personal beliefs, your religious beliefs, emotional issues, as well as the legal aspects of it,” said Assemblymember Rudy Bermudez, a Norwalk Democrat who abstained June 1 and wound up supporting it the next day.

Although the measure failed on consecutive votes earlier in the week, its main author, Assemblymember Mark Leno, and other backers insisted until the last minute that they would get the needed 41 votes.

Three Democrats who originally abstained came on board. Several more fence-sitters promised to jump to the “aye” category if the measure came within a vote or two in final balloting.

The gambit fell apart when Mervin Dymally, a Compton Democrat who was a co-author and had voted for it earlier, disappeared. His absence may have persuaded others there was no sense going out on a limb.

In the end, advocates blamed the defeat on everything from term limits that weakened the Democratic Party’s hold on wayward lawmakers to the ambitions of holdouts running for other offices next year.

Besides California’s strong gay rights record, bill supporters had reason to be optimistic when the measure was scheduled for a vote.

A year ago, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez signed on as a co-author and pledged to get the bill to the governor’s desk. In all, 23 of the Assembly’s 48 Democrats were listed as co-sponsors.

Hopes rose further after a Republican-appointed judge ruled in March that withholding marriage from same-sex couples constituted state-sponsored discrimination. Although opponents pledged to fight the case up to the California Supreme Court, the unambiguous decision bolstered arguments that the matter was about basic fairness.

In April, delegates to the state Democratic Party convention adopted a resolution in support of same-sex marriage.

Working against the bill, however, were unsettled questions over whether legislators had the authority to change the state’s definition of marriage. Lawmakers can’t change laws approved by voters, and in 2000 over 61 percent approved a ballot initiative only recognizing marriage between a man and a woman.

While gay rights activists argued that the voter-approved law only dealt with marriages performed out of state, legislative analysts agreed Leno’s bill wasn’t that clear and would probably end up in court.

Leno said he would try again next year, but that the defeat was a huge disappointment.

“This issue does not go away,” he said. “Gay and lesbian couples will not disappear, but they will have been told by the state once again that they are different, that they are just not as good.”

Not Voting: 7

AYES: Bass, Berg, Bermudez, Calderon, Canciamilla, Chan, Chavez, Chu, Cohn, Coto, De La Torre, Evans, Frommer, Goldberg, Hancock, Jones, Karnette, Klehs, Koretz, Laird, Leno, Levine, Lieber, Liu, Montanez, Mullin, Nation, Nava, Oropeza, Pavley, Ridley-Thomas, Ruskin, Saldaña, Torrico, Wolk, Yee and Nuñez

NOES: Aghazarian, Arambula, Baca, Benoit, Blakeslee, Bogh, Cogdill, Daucher, De Vore, Emmerson, Garcia, Harman, Haynes, Shirley Horton, Houston, Huff, Keene, La Malfa, La Suer, Leslie, Matthews, Maze, McCarthy, Mountjoy, Nakanishi, Niello, Parra, Plescia, Sharon Runner, Spitzer, Strickland, Tran, Vargas, Villines, Walters and Wyland

ABSENT, ABSTAINING OR NOT VOTING: Dymally, Gordon, Jerome Horton, Negrete McLeod, Richman, Salinas and Umberg